The present invention relates to dietary supplements and compositions containing nopal cactus isolates derived from the juice and/or soluble solid fractions of nopal pads and methods of preparing the supplements and compositions. The invention also specifically relates to compositions for making coffee, coffee compositions and methods for making such compositions, which contain the nopal cactus isolates.
In developed countries around the world, there is a tremendous interest in personal fitness and wellness. At the same time there is a disturbing trend that people, including adults and children are becoming overweight. By overweight, it is meant that the subject has exceeded acceptable weight range and percent body fat generally considered as healthy determined by factors including, but not necessarily limited to age, height, sex, and body type. For example, over 50% of the human population in the United States is considered overweight, approximately 20% being obese. Obesity produces a wide range of health concerns including sleep apnea, orthopedic complications, arterial sclerosis, diabetes and heart disease. All these undesirable conditions contribute in development of an unsatisfactory quality of life and in some cases premature death.
Many studies have been conducted to identify the factors that contribute to being overweight. The main factors include high caloric density in foods, large portion sizes, diets that are rich in fat, decreasing amounts of exercise, high availability of food, increased numbers of eating occasions, low knowledge of actual foods and portions eaten by the consumer, lack of information on energy expenditure through normal daily activities and exercise, and eating stimulated by stress, hormonal shifts during the menstrual cycle for women, and hunger. A number of approaches to control the caloric balance including consumable products have been developed with mixed success. In the United States, over the counter weight loss products are sold to help consumers reduce their weight or maintain current weight. These products are grouped into over the counter diet aids and meal replacements. The over the counter diet aids include appetite suppressants, like Dexatrim® and Acutrim®, which both use phenylpropranolamine (PPA) as the appetite suppressant. This appetite suppressant can even be released over time to help control hunger for longer periods of time for the consumer. In addition, there are dietary supplements, like Metabolife 356®, which help people with their diets while providing energy. Consumers use these products up to 3 times a day to help control hunger and increase energy. However, many supplements have been shown to have potentially dangerous side effects, such as increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke from PPA containing supplements.
There are also prescription drugs that can help consumers to lose weight that fall into the anti-obesity drug class. These drugs are used to decrease appetite or increase the feeling of being full by possibly increasing levels of serotonin or catecholamine—two brain chemicals that effect mood and appetite. Examples of products in this group include Fastin® from Smith-Kline-Beechan which uses phentermine hydrochloride, Meridia® from Knoll-BASF Pharma which uses sibutramine and Pondimin® from Wyeth Ayerst which uses phenfluramine hydrochloride and Redux® from Wyeth Ayerst which uses dexfenfluramine. All of these products must be obtained through a physician by use of a prescription. Again, such products typically include potent stimulants that can have potentially dangerous side effects, such as increased blood pressure and, in some cases, damage to a patient's pulmonary system. Some prescription diet drugs can also be highly addictive resulting in the patient becoming physically and psychologically dependent on the medication.
There are also commercial weight loss programs available through programs like Weight Watchers®, Jenny Craig®, and hospital supervised programs that are designed to help consumers track energy intake and energy output through a variety of techniques and devices. While many of the technologies mentioned above can be useful in losing weight, the problem is keeping the weight off. Short term diets can be unhealthy because it causes the body to adopt a starvation mode, lowers the metabolism and lowers the ability to burn fat. Often people “yo-yo”, that is, lose large amounts of weight only to gain it back once they get off the weight loss program they were on. This so-called “yo-yo” effect can damage a person's health by zapping energy and destroying their metabolism, leading to binge eating, craving and feelings of deprivation.
Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in the United States and in Western European countries. Several causative factors are implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease including hereditary predisposition to the disease, gender, lifestyle factors such as smoking and diet, age, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, including hyperinsulinema due to insulin resistance. Several of these factors, particularly dyslipidemia and chronically elevated serum insulin, contribute to the development of atherosclerosis, a primary cause of vascular and heart disease.
Insulin resistance is a common metabolic disorder in modern Western society, predisposed to largely as a result of factors in modern Western society living. Poor insulin activity and chronically elevated blood insulin levels are associated with a number of serious diseases. Among these, hypertension, obesity, ischaemic heart disease, dyslipidemia and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NDDM) are major diseases in which insulin resistance has a clearly demonstrated relationship with the etiology and clinical course of the disease.
Nopal cactus fruit and pads of the opuntia cactus genus have been a food staple of the natives of the Americas for thousands of years. Virtually every fruit and vegetable store in Mexico, central and South America sell the fruit and young tender nopal pads. The fruit is also known as prickly pear fruit. The fleshy leaves (or pads) of the nopal cactus are large, circular, paddle-like members that typically grow to be 7 to 10 inches in length, 4 to 5 inches in width and 0.5 inches thick.
It has been reported that the fruit and pads from the opuntia genus of cactus, which are rich in vitamins and minerals, act as natural fat blockers, can reduce serum low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL), and can reduce blood glucose levels in hyperglycemic individuals by increasing insulin sensitivity. However, in order to realize the full health benefits of the fruit and pads of the prickly pear cactus, a person would need to consume a significant amount (e.g., 300-500 g of cooked nopal pads per day) of the fruit or pads on a regular basis. Moreover, the fruit and pads of the prickly pear cactus are not available in all areas or during all seasons.
Thus, there is a need for new dietary or nutritional food products containing natural ingredients which are effective for lowering cholesterol, stabilizing blood glucose and insulin levels and promoting healthy weight management, which can reduce the risks of coronary heart disease and diabetes without the side effects and disadvantages of known supplements or products, including the disadvantages described above. Moreover, new methods and compositions utilizing concentrated nopal cactus components which are capable of providing significant lowering of LDL in the blood to significantly reduce the risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease remain desirable.